Biography
Bernard J. "Barney" Cassidy is a graduate of the Jesuit House of Studies at Loyola University, New Orleans (BA 1978), the University of Toronto (MA 1981), the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (MDiv 1984), and Harvard Law School (JD 1988), where he was the Book Review and Commentary editor of the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant to Professor Arthur R. Miller, supporting revisions of Wright & Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure.
After law school Barney clerked for the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and practiced law at both Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, where on a pro bono basis he led the medical and mental health element of a class action on behalf of the Pelican Bay State Prison inmates that successfully challenged the constitutionality of prison conditions in the landmark case of Madrid v. Gomez.
Barney later served as general counsel of three public companies, Tumbleweed Communications Corp. (a secure internet communications startup), Tessera Technologies, Inc. (a semiconductor IP licensor where he became the President of Tessera Intellectual Property Corp., a $250 million subsidiary), and most recently at Seattle-based Juno Therapeutics, Inc. (a cancer immunotherapy startup acquired by Celgene at an $11 billion valuation in 2018).
